The Computer Museum History Center Collections Policy

Allison asks about the disposition of some of the Computer Museum's collection: The PDP-1 is definitely in the Computer Musuem History Center in Mountain View. I've seen it with my own eyes. When it was in Boston they reportedly fired it up once a year to show Steve "Slug" Russel's "SPACEWAR!" game. However, as I understand it they have not yet tried to operate it in Mountain View. I hadn't heard about the PDP-7. The PDP-6 is the one that many of us are indignant about. The "facts" seem to be: 1) DEC contributed a bunch of hardware to help found The Computer Museum, including a PDP-6. 2) The Computer Museum sold some PDP-6 modules in their gift shop. These modules may or may not have been from the aforementioned PDP-6. 3) The whereabouts of the PDP-6 are now unknown. The conclusion that people have reached is that the PDP-6 was parted out. Regardless of the veracity of point 2, no one has successfully explained the chain of events leading from point 1 to point 3. However, I would like to point out that if the PDP-6 was in fact parted out, it almost certainly would have happened prior to the founding of The Computer Museum History Center. It seems clear, based not just on Dag's word but also on the experiences of several of my friends who volunteer for TCMHC projects, that any sort of problem like this would not be likely to happen today. TCMHC is now expecting a shipment of more equipment from DEC, which is claimed to contain one of every type of computer DEC made in the early days. So perhaps if we're lucky there will be another PDP-6 that can be restored (if needed) and preserved. Eric